


Honey

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Bugs & Insects, F/M, Pitch is a wasp, Sandy is a honey bee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23209243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Anonymous asked: "Wasp!Pitch and Honeybee!Sandy!"Bees, man. Fem!Sandy because she’s a worker bee.I hope you like this, anon! (I also hope you don’t expect a coherent anthropomorphic insect-people society.)
Relationships: Pitch Black/Sanderson Mansnoozie
Kudos: 4
Collections: Blacksand Short Fics





	Honey

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 3/1/2014.

“Oh! I didn’t expect to find anyone here,” Pitch says to the fat, furry honey bee he’s encountered within the rippling purple folds of the flower’s petals.

She smiles, and nods to him while indicating the pockets of nectar between them. There’s more than enough here for both of them, she seems to say.

At first, Pitch is offended that she doesn’t address him verbally, but he remembers just before saying something unfortunate that worker bees don’t speak, that they communicate by gesture and dance. He steps forward towards the little pools of nectar, and she moves back as he moves forward. When he looks over at her, she seems nervous. “Are you frightened? Of me?” He stands up a little straighter, showing off his trim, shining body, his carapace almost entirely black save for a few accents of bright warning yellow. The honey bee looks at him warily.

He shakes his head, breaking his pose, and folds all his arms. “It’s flattering, but you needn’t be. I’m male, in case you couldn’t tell, so I’m not going to sting you or lay eggs in you—not that the latter would occur even if I was female. You’re not the right kind of caterpillar, or any kind of caterpillar at all, obviously.”

She smiles, and starts moving two of her hands in a complicated pattern. After a few moments, Pitch realizes that in the small space her gestures are taking the place of flight, and he tries to recall what he can of bee language, which he had learned a long time ago in order to spy on dances and get information about where the best flowers were. He’d never actually needed it before now. It was just that, as a new adult, the prospect of living outside of a food source had seemed fraught with uncertainty.

… _fuzzy like one,_ he managed to distinguish, and smiled, hoping that was the appropriate reaction. She smiled back, and signed again, using all her hands this time, apparently satisfied with his ability to comprehend her. _Thanks for telling me,_ she signed. _I actually was having trouble telling. I don’t even see many drones, and you’re not actually a drone, are you?_

Pitch shook his head. “I have a name like any other wasp. It’s Pitch.”

_Mine’s Sandy._ She followed her name with a series of gestures that leave Pitch totally lost. _Oh! Sorry. That’s just the location of my hatching cell. To distinguish me from all the other Sandies. But since I’m the only one here you don’t need that._

“Indeed. Well, Sandy, will you join me in this nectar?”

She nods, and they kneel down, each at one of the small pools. Sandy glances at Pitch as they drink, and Pitch glances at Sandy, and soon enough they end up glancing at each other.

_Are you just drinking the nectar as it is?_

“Yes, of course. Aren’t you?”

Sandy shakes her head and pats her throat. _I’m collecting the nectar to make honey. That’s what I really eat. It’s better than nectar._

“How so?” Pitch asks. “I’ve never had a chance to try any. But it’s—it’s your ticket to life, isn’t it? It’s why you get sent to sleep with smoke instead of killed with poison.”

_Oh, everyone and everything loves honey,_ Sandy signs, her movements becoming slower and more graceful. _It’s so much thicker than nectar, and ever sweeter. It endures beyond all flowers and workers, and will endure even to the very last bee. It keeps us close to our sisters and flows golden behind the whole flowering world._

“Now I wish I could try it even more.”

_If you come to my hive you could probably steal some. It happens now and then, and it’s not a big deal. My queen says we’ve had excess in the hive as long as she can remember._

“Where is your hive?”

Sandy quickly signs something that Pitch can’t translate, and he says so.

_Oh, sorry. I don’t know any other way to describe it_.

“Hmm, maybe I’ll just follow you home, then.” He smiles, and while she returns the smile, her wings also twitch nervously. She doesn’t tell him not to, however.

They drink and collect a little more nectar when Pitch realizes he has another question. “How does honey keep you closer to your sisters? Is it just because it’s in the hive? Is it more of a philosophical concept?”

Sandy grins widely, with a touch of mischief in her eyes. _It’s quite literal_ , she signs. _Would you like me to show you?_

Pitch nods, and she beckons him closer, and closer still. Pitch is just about to comment on how near they are to each other, to either break the tension or get an explanation, when Sandy covers his mouth with hers. He closes his eyes as Sandy’s tongue and the sweet taste of nectar fill his mouth. It’s such a strange bee thing to do that Pitch wonders if he should protest and pull back, but—why? No one will need to know. And it feels almost terrifyingly good to drink nectar from Sandy’s lips.

After a time that Pitch knows was too long but honestly thinks was far too short, Sandy pulls away, her smile returning as she licks her lips.

“And that’s what you do with your sisters?” Pitch asks, well aware that his voice isn’t as controlled as he’d like it to be.

_More or less. Then they’ll keep the nectar on their tongues or in their honey stomachs as it evaporates into honey._

Pitch licks his own lips, still sweet. “I’m afraid I only swallowed it,” he says, his voice low.

_I knew you would._

“I think honey could only be better if I tried it the same way.”

She lightly kisses him once more, and moves back just enough so he can easily read her signs. _Pitch, would you mind if I…smelled you? I’m a forager, so I’m always curious, you know. And I haven’t been around fertile males very often so…well, I want to._

“Can it be an exchange?” Pitch asks before he has time to think too long about the matter.

_What do you want to do?_

“I—I want to touch your fur.”

Sandy nods her agreement and moves toward him again.

Now, truth be told, the way her antennae play over the planes of his face, the back of his neck, his shoulders, and anywhere else she can reach, is about as much “smelling” as the way Pitch strokes through the soft black-and-gold fur on her sides with all four hands is simple “touching”. She sighs when his hands begin to roam farther and farther, and carefully brushes her antennae against his own, making him gasp.

When he pulls her _very_ close, however, she pushes him away.

_I can’t. I have to return to my hive very soon. There wouldn’t be enough time to hide the scent._

“I’m sorry,” Pitch says, embarrassed now. “I mean, did you even want to, as a worker?”

_I never wanted to take any of my Queen’s drones from her, but, well…you’re not a drone, are you?_

She smiles a sweet, sly smile that makes Pitch want to ask her to throw caution to the wind and let her sisters wonder (especially when he thinks of the whole hive of plump, velvet-furred maidens learning of Sandy’s unusual activities through their peculiar kisses).

She takes two of his hands in her four. _I’ll bring you honey next time_.

Next time. What a wonderful phrase. “Next time,” he says softly, “next time I’m going to make you feel like royalty.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tags and Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> #true facts about the honeybee#delicate antennae touching#bees#maaaan
> 
> dragonmasterkris reblogged this from whentheoceanmetsky and added:  
> FFFFFFFF NOW I WANNA DRAW BEES. DAMMIT.
> 
> bowlingforgerbils said: This was fantastic. Fat, furry Sandy wanting a drone of her own. :3
> 
> xxdaimonxx said: today I was feeling a bit unsure about blacksand but now after reading this, I remember how incredible cute blacksand makes everything ever


End file.
